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ZBC outside broadcast equipment damaged in accident
By Lebo
Nkatazo
BILLIONS worth of
outside broadcast equipment belonging to the state broadcaster ZBH was
on Monday damaged when a cargo van carrying it overturned near Kadoma,
140km west of the capital Harare, police and ZBH sources have confirmed.
They said the Mazda T35 truck was on its way from Bulawayo to Harare.
The equipment had been taken to Bulawayo for last Sunday’s live coverage of the Highlanders vs Motor Action soccer match at Barbourfields Stadium, which was screened live on ZBC TV.
The damaged equipment includes ZBC’s only satellite uplink kit, which it uses to broadcast live events in areas where there is no direct link with the State’s optic fibre link infrastructure.
Also in the van were eight cameras, among an assortment of other vital equipment.
ZBC officials said the damage to the equipment had left their bosses running around trying to source alternative equipment to broadcast live the Heroes Day gala scheduled in the next 10 days.
The gala is set for Chinhoyi, in President Robert Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West.
“There is no way we can broadcast the gala on TV without the satellite uplink kit because there is no optic fibre link in Chinhoyi,” a ZBC spokesman said Tuesday.
He added: “We are still testing the equipment to see if it works. It’s promising but some of the components were damaged and would need to be replaced.
“If we can’t fix the equipment the solution would be to move the gala to a place like Harare where there are other alternatives, or not to have the gala live on TV. The other option would be to hire equipment from South Africa. The problem is that there is little time to secure the forex.”
Officials said the “final” option would be to hire Zimbabwe Cricket’s state-of-the-art OB van which comes at a considerable expense.
But the ZC has in the past “donated” its OB van, especially for presidential assignments. President Mugabe is patron on ZC.
Police sources said the accident happened on Monday afternoon. They said the driver and two passengers were injured after they were thrown out of the vehicle when it overturned.
The cause of the accident could not be immediately ascertained.
ZBC faces a critical shortage of equipment, especially outside broadcast equipment. One of the company’s three old OB vans packed up in February on its way back to Harare from Gweru where it had been taken to beam live President Mugabe’s birthday celebrations.
“We stripped the equipment from the van and put it in a cargo van and now the cargo van is gone,” mourned a ZBC official.
The state broadcaster used to have an OB van at Montrose Studios in Bulawayo but it was taken to Harare to beef up operations as it finds itself forced to cover ad hoc live events such as heroes’ burials, galas, state occasions, ruling Zanu PF party functions and sports.
Two weeks ago, ZBC TV started live coverage of soccer matches with the epic battle between Harare gains Caps United and Dynamos at Rufaro.
To placate southerners who always accuse the state broadcaster of bias, a decision was made that the next live soccer coverage must be Sunday’s Highlanders versus Might Bulls match -- some 440km away.
The damage to the equipment comes at a time when ZBC faces unprecedented flight of skilled personnel due to low salaries.
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